Fix You (Rewrite)
by xx.royaldisaster.xx
Summary: After a life changing summer at Privet Drive, Harry is forced to spend the last month of his holidays training with Snape at Grimmauld Place. Stay tuned to see what happens when a bond forms between the two and their relationship is tested further in light of the war. HP/SS romance fic. This story is a rewrite! Hopefully, it will differ greatly from the original.
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter awoke with a start as several loud thumps knocked him out of his unconsciousness. "Up! I will not have you sleeping all day! Up, up, up!" He heard his aunt's shrill voice yelling at him through his bedroom door. Groaning, he cracked an eyelid open and glanced at the digital clock on his night table. It was half past nine in the morning. Way too early for any human being to be awake, especially once who had just fallen into bed less than five hours ago.

It was the summer after his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and, as usual, he was forced into spending the summer holidays with his Muggle aunt, uncle, and cousin. Only, this summer had taken quite a different turn from the previous one's he had spent here. For the first time, he was allowed to have his school books, broom, and other magical belongings in his bedroom. Part of this was because Remus and Mad Eye had threatened his uncle at King's Cross at the end of term, and partly because Harry was no longer inclined to put up with the Dursley's bullshit.

For years, he had allowed them to walk all over his very existence, but he had decided early into the summer that he would have no more of it. He used the computer, ate whatever he wanted from the fridge, came and went as he pleased, and refused to cook their meals and be their personal servant any longer. At first, they had appeared to be shocked at his new found rebellion, but had quickly grown used to it. He supposed his uncle quite liked the fact that he stayed out of the house for hours at a time. Well that and the fact that he now had a real excuse to continue with his beatings. Only Harry fought back now, which only made it ten times worse.

Harry flung the covers off of himself, knowing that his aunt would just come back if he didn't get up. When he stood, a wave of nausea hit him. How much had he had to drink last night? He honestly couldn't remember, but he knew it was a lot. He slowly climbed down the stairs, clutching his throbbing head. He crossed the living room into the kitchen and sat down, laying his face on the cool counter and taking a few deep breaths. Anything to get rid of the nausea.

Something was slammed down in front of him and he jumped straight up, looking around at his aunt. "Eat," She said, pointing a bony finger at a plate with toast, eggs, and kippers on it. "I don't need you throwing up all over my house again."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said, knowing perfectly well that she was aware of what he did when he went out at night. He recalled the previous weekend when he had stumbled in the front door at three in the morning, knocking over an expensive vase and vomiting all over the newly installed carpet in the hallway. His aunt had shrieked and chased him around the house with a broom upon seeing the stain in the morning, which he had claimed was from the stomach flu and insisted that he had no knowledge about what had happened to her vase. He could tell she hadn't believed him, so as punishment she was making him do not only his regular chores, which he put up with only because, although he would never ever admit it, he was slightly grateful for her for putting a roof over his head all of these years even though she hated his very existence, plus extra garden work in exchange for 'destroying' her carpet.

It was late in the afternoon by the time he finally finished her ridiculously long list of chores and headed upstairs to shower the dirt and sweat off of his body. When he entered his bedroom after his shower, Hedwig was waiting on the windowsill for him, a letter tied to her leg. He untied it and gave her an owl treat before opening the scroll of parchment.

_ Dear Harry, _

_The reason I'm writing to you is to deliver some great news! Dumbledore's just told us that he's going to get you out of the Dursley's house early this year. Somebody should be around in a few days time to get you, I reckon. Hermione's still in Italy with her parents, but she should be coming to stay as soon as she gets back. Hope your holidays are going well and the Muggles are treating you alright. _

_-Ron_

Harry sighed as he sat the letter down. The formality of Ron's letter was no surprise at this point, as he had only heard from him one another time this entire summer. Hermione had sent him a couple post cards _"On the train from Florence to Rome for the weekend! Italy's absolutely wonderful so far! Hope you are doing well! See you soon, Hermione." _Other than that, he'd only received letters from Molly and Sirius so far, in which they both mostly fretted over whether the Dursley's were treating him alright and on Molly's part, if he were being fed properly.

Things had changed between the golden trio, it was obvious. He knew that it was because of what had happened at the Ministry of Magic last term. Voldemort had used their mind connection to his advantage, causing him to believe that he was holding Sirius captive in the Department of Mysteries. Of course, the entire thing had been a set up and because of him, he may have cost somebody their life. Sirius narrowly escaped death at the hands of his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, and worse, Dean Thomas was kidnapped by a Death Eater. It had been almost two months now and nobody had seen nor heard a word on the boys whereabouts. Of course, the papers didn't report that he had been kidnapped, only that he had unexpectedly gone missing on the night of the eleventh of May. Harry knew that his friend was more than likely experiencing torture at the hands of Voldemort's followers, and he could only hope that he would somehow make it out alive.

For these reasons, upon many others, he didn't want to leave early this year. In fact, he didn't want to leave at all. He may have it rough out here in the Muggle world, but at least he wouldn't have to deal with all the press, the constant questions, the high expectations that were constantly being placed on him. Harry hated the fact that he was who he was. Why couldn't he have just turned out to be a normal wizard, instead of everybody's precious 'Chosen One?' Who really wanted to be famous for having survived their parent's murders, anyway?

Deciding that he would worry about his life problems some other day, he finished getting ready and went downstairs in search of something to eat. His aunt was in the kitchen and he noticed her raising an eyebrow at him over her magazine as she caught sight of his outfit. He hardly even registered her; It's not like he actually cared what she thought about him. He personally liked his new found sense of style. His jeans were black and rather tight. He had paired them with a pair of black Doc Martins that he'd purchased in a thrift shop, a t-shirt with a popular beer company's logo on it, and a leather jacket. His hair was more tame than usual after having discovered the wonders of hair gel. He also wore a thin layer of black liner on his bottom lids. He suspected a lot of people would be shocked at his transformation, but it was of no concern to him.

"You're going out, I assume." His aunt said

He chugged down his glass of orange juice "Yep." He said, grabbing his backpack off of the counter and swinging it over his shoulders.

He waited for her snippy retort, but it never came. He headed out the front door and began walking the twelve blocks to Andy's house.

Andy was the first friend that he had ever made in Little Whingington. They had unexpectedly met three days into the holidays. Harry had just gotten into a rowing match with his uncle over something stupid, who ended the fight by throwing him into his bedroom mirror so hard that the top half shattered and he was cut all over. He had walked to a nearby park and began picking glass out of his skin with a pair of tweezers, thinking that he was alone. Andy had walked up a few minutes later, and he recalled being quite put off as this strange boy sat down next to him without invitation, said "Damn, looks like that hurts", and proceeded to treat his wounds with a bottle of vodka he was carrying around in a brown paper bag. Afterward, he'd offered him a sip of vodka, and ended up inviting him to a party at his house. Harry had met many people and gotten drunk for the first time that night. Ever since then, Harry had been coming back. This stranger had turned into one of his closest friends and for the first time, he didn't want to leave Privet Drive at all.

Andy had ultimately introduced him to an entirely new world, a new way of living. For the first time in his life, he was free. Free from worrying about the future, free from the judgments of others. All it took was a few weeks for Harry to realize that before now, he hadn't really been living his life at all. In the past month, he had done so many things that he was sure he would never forget. He'd attended his first concert, taken a completely spontaneous road trip to Brighton, became a master at beer bong, pierced a few things, snuck into an abandoned insane asylum, done his fair share of clubbing, and even began to discover himself a little bit along the way.

During his fourth year, he tried going out on dates with girls and kissing them, but they always ended up being clingy and annoying to him. Then there was Cho. She was a nice girl and Harry really had thought that he'd liked her for a wile. But things changed when she kissed him at the beginning of fifth year after the Halloween dance and he realized that there was nothing. No spark. No passion. No firework moment. For a wile, he pondered that he may be asexual, until-until him. Harry actually stopped walking No. He wasn't even going to think about it anymore.

The most amazing thing that Andy had done for him was show him that his sexuality was nothing to be ashamed of and that anybody who told him otherwise was an ignorant waste of his time. It was true that he hadn't told any of his friends or family yet, but he didn't think it was something that should be done through the post. He was waiting for the right time. And when that time came, he hoped that they would accept him. If not, he would just have to learn to live without those people being in his life.

He lit a cigarette as he walked, having picked up the habit. He knew it was bad for him, but he figured he was going to die one day anyway. He let himself in when he got to the tiny white house, walking down the hallway and into Andy's bedroom. He was still sleeping, which was no surprise. Harry positioned himself before dive bombing on top of him. "RISE AND SHINE!" He yelled, getting up from the bed. Andy mumbled something and buried himself down further in the blankets so he ripped the covers off, causing him to sit up.

"Alright, alright, I'm up. What time is it?"

"It's like fifteen after seven." Harry said

Andy got up from the bed and began collecting clothes together to shower before they went out. Harry propped himself up on Andy's bed, already bored. Megan came walking by just then and stuck her head in the room. "Oh hey Harry," She said "When did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago. Is Chad still asleep?" He asked

She shook her head "I literally kicked his ass out of bed a few minutes ago." She laughed before padding back down the hallway and into her bedroom.

He walked to the other side of the house and knocked on Chad's closed door, who called at him to come in. "Did you get them?" He asked after closing the door back behind him.

Chad nodded, already knowing what he was referring to. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little baggie, passing it over to him. Harry dumped the bag into his palm and four blue pills with peace signs stamped onto them fell out.

"Thanks for getting these." He said

Chad accepted his thanks with a wave of his hand. "How long should I wait to take it before we go?"

"I'd take it now." He said

Harry swallowed the pill dry and waited for the effects to kick in.

An hour later, six of them were all piled into Andy's car, going to a nearby club called 411. Harry sat in the backseat on another friend, Faith's, lap. A pleasant sense of calmness had come over him since he had taken the pill and he couldn't stop smiling. Everything in the world was so great. The bouncer let him in without ID, already recognizing him as they came to this club a lot. His friends all ordered their drinks while he ordered a virgin drink, having learned that you couldn't mix ecstasy with alcohol.

None of them questioned him as to why he wasn't drinking, but he assumed they knew he was on something by the way he kept unexpectedly flinging his arms around people he knew when they'd come over to the group. His senses were in touch with everything around him and all he wanted to do was drown in appreciation for the world that had come out before him. From the music to the people around him, everything seemed to be absolutely perfect. He caught himself zoning out completely at one point, feeling the texture on his jeans.

Harry found that he didn't have a care in the world as he spotted a cute boy sitting alone at the bar and walked over to him, not even thinking about the fact that this wasn't a gay bar and he'd probably be rejected in a heartbeat.

Somehow, he struck up a conversation and he could hardly believe it when he was pulled out onto the dance floor. They began dancing together and before he knew it, a pair of warm lips connected with his. He slipped his tongue into the guys mouth and they kissed for several minutes.

"Want to go to my place?" The guy hissed into his ear

He didn't even think about the dangers of leaving with a completely random stranger. All that mattered right now was that somebody wanted him. Harry allowed himself to be lead toward the exit, only they never made it through because Andy appeared out of nowhere and roughly grabbed his arm.

"Come with me." The other boy ordered, sounding angry. Harry tried to wrench himself out of his grip, but Andy got hold of him again "I'm not letting you go home with some random stranger."

"It's none of your business." Harry mumbled under his breath

Andy, having heard him, stopped walking and turned around. "You're not in the right state of mind. Who knows if that guy's some sort of psycho. You're my friend and I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't try to stop you from leaving and something happened to you."

Harry found his spirits rising again and decided to forget about what had just happened, instead grabbing Andy by the arm and leading him over to where the rest of their friends were standing.

They didn't end up leaving the club until closing time at three. They left Andy's car there and got a ride home with their friends Amber and Matt. He usually went home around this time, but the others were all planning on staying for a wile so he figured he might as well. The six of them spread out across the living room except for Amber and Chad, who had mysteriously disappeared into his bedroom and locked the door behind him. Megan and Matt were surfing the television for a movie to watch while Andy pulled out a tray and began rolling a few blunts. Harry flopped himself down on the larger of the two couches and took a moment to simply reflect on how great of a night he'd had. He had to say that his first time rolling was a success. Most of his energy had gone by now and he had slipped into a perfectly relaxed state that he never wanted to come out from. It was wonderful.

Andy lit a freshly rolled blunt and passed it in his direction. The four of them ended up smoking and watching a shitty horror movie until around five in the morning, when he unconsciously fell asleep on the couch.

When he next awoke, sunlight was streaming through the living room window and he could hear the sound of a lawn mower running somewhere outside. He made to sit up, but flopped back down as he noticed his skin felt like it was tingling all over. He slowly sat up, looking around the room. The others were still sleeping last night off. Checking his watch, he swore loudly as he saw that it was almost one in the afternoon. The entire time he was putting on his shoes and gathering up his belongings, he couldn't help but notice that his thoughts were taking longer to process than usual and he was finding it very hard to concentrate on one task at a time. He knocked on Chad's door. There was a giggle, several moments of silence, and then finally a "come in!" It didn't surprise him to see Amber laying on the far side of the bed, a sheet wrapped around her as clothing. He wondered when this new development had exactly occurred, but didn't voice anything out loud.

"Hey, do you think you could give me a ride home? Everybody else is still asleep."

"I don't really feel like going anywhere, but Chad can take my car if he wants." She said

As the two of them drove toward Privet Drive, Harry voiced his concerns about the strangeness he had been feeling ever since waking up that morning. Chad assured him that everything was completely normal as he pulled the car to a stop at the end of the road. He always had people pick him up and drop him off here so the Dursley's, god forbid, wouldn't have the chance to scare his friends off.

Harry walked into the house and was immediately accosted by his angry aunt as he tried to take the stairs. "Not so fast, boy!" He turned around to look at her "You have a visitor." She said, her eyes flashing in a way that told him that a fellow witch or wizard had entered the home.

He was assuming that Dumbledore had sent somebody to collect him as he'd mentioned in his letter. He told her to tell them that he'd be down in a minute and thundered up the stairs to look at his reflection in the mirror. There was a look about his face that you could tell he'd had a rough night. The best he could do was splash some cool water on his face, brush his teeth, and change into a different shirt that didn't reek.

When he came down the stairs, he rounded into the sitting room, expecting to see Kingsley or Lupin, but instead he stopped dead in his tracks as he made eye contact with none other than Severus Snape. He had always had a way with luck.

Author's Note: Choosing to rewrite this story was a very hard decision to make, but I'm now glad that I did it. Thanks to all my amazing followers who helped influence this decision, and I'm excited to hear your feedback on the first two chapter's! I have a lot of plans for this story and I hope it will take a complete turn from the original in later chapters. Enjoy reading! xx.


	2. Chapter 2

Snape narrowed his eyes at him and Harry stared back with an equal amount of hatred. Just what the hell was Snape doing in his house?

"Professor Dumbledore has sent me to collect you from your residence. If you'll lead the way to the pig sty I'm sure you call your bedroom, I'll assist you in packing as I'd like to get out of here sometime in the next month."

It took a moment for Harry to snap out of it, having zoned out again. He turned and began walking up to his bedroom, not even bothering to check to see if the greasy old git was following him or not.

He swung open the door and walked across the room to sit on his bed, which was actually just a mattress on the floor. It had originally come with a frame, but his uncle had broken it in a fit of rage one evening last summer. "What in Salazar's name are you doing Potter? I said I'd assist you in packing your belongings, not do everything for you."

Harry would usually came up with some snippy retort, but he didn't find himself really up to arguing with anybody today. Instead he took a calm breath "I actually need to talk to somebody about my living arrangements."

Snape raised an eyebrow and stared at him for a long moment before pulling out his desk chair and sitting down, gazing around the room. His bedroom wasn't much, but he found that he didn't really need a lot. The only pieces of furniture were the mattress, the desk chair, a wobbly old desk, and a worn wardrobe that had belonged to his great great grandmother or something of the sort. Although his room was small, he kept it relatively clean. His school trunk was pushed up against the wall next to his bed and made for a convenient night stand in which he kept a neatly stacked pile of books, newspapers, and magazines on. His desk was nearly bare, except for an oil burner, a small radio, and the picture of his parents that he'd had framed. An acoustic guitar that he was currently trying to teach himself to play leaned up against a bare patch of wall, and his only decorations were a picture collage he'd made with memories from this summer and a poster of a Muggle band called Pink Floyd. It was simple, but that was the way he liked it.

"Um, sir?" He said, trying to sound polite "About my living situation- I was wondering if there was some way I could just stay here for the rest of the summer?"

He waited for Snape to tell him absolutely not and to order him to get started on packing his things, but he what he didn't expect was for him to gaze at him curiously for a long moment. "Why would you want to stay here, Potter?" Well, imagine that, it looked as if something had changed and Snape had realized that he wasn't the pampered little prince of the Wizarding world after all.

When Harry didn't answer, Snape stood up and held out his arm. Harry stayed where he was, unsure of whether he was supposed to take it or what. "Come on, Potter. You can deliver your request directly to the headmaster if you wish to...extend your stay." He stood and gripped Snape's arm. The familiar sensation of his entire body being forced through a millimeter sized tube filled his lungs and he came out gasping for air. He definitely preferred brooms.

They had landed at the gate of a tiny house that appeared to be located in the middle of nowhere. The grass was nearly as tall as himself, the paint was faded and beginning to peel, and the shutters looked like they'd seen many lives. It was weird to think that Dumbledore lived here even though he knew that teacher's had to have a life outside of school. He remembered back when he was in primary school and thought that his teacher slept inside of her classroom.

Before they could knock on the door, it creaked open to reveal an old house elf who positively beamed as she caught sight of him. "Hello Mr. Harry Potter sir!" The elf greeted him in excitement "If youza follow me to the sitting room, master Dumbledore sirs will be most pleased to see you!"

They crossed through a tiny kitchen and into a rather flamboyantly decorated sitting room. Dumbledore was sitting in a purple squashy armchair by the fireplace, reading a Muggle magazine on knitting and popping lemon drops into his mouth every few seconds.

"Harry, my boy, this is a surprise!" Said Dumbledore, laying his magazine to the side and sitting up a bit straighter in his chair "Please, have a seat, both of you."

Harry sat down on the love seat, but Snape remained standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest, looking back and forth in between the two.

"So to what pleasure do I owe your visit?" Asked Dumbledore "I was under the impression that Severus was escorting you to Grimmauld Place to spend the rest of your summer."

"Err...well, I was kind of wondering if I could just stay with the Dursley's for the rest of the holiday's. They've been loads nicer this time and I've been able to focus more on my study's lately." He was totally bullshitting his way into getting what he wanted, but it wasn't like he could truthfully admit his real reasons for wanting to stay. He just hoped the headmaster would buy into it.

And buy into it he did. The longer Harry talked, the brighter the twinkle in his eye grew and he began popping lemon drops into his mouth once more. "That's excellent news, Harry." Dumbledore said with much enthusiasm "It will be excellent for strengthening the blood wards and I'm sure will be beneficial to your academic performance. You see, this does present a minor problem. Severus, have you told him anything yet?"

Snape shook his head "I planned to tell him upon arrival."

Harry had a gut feeling that he wasn't going to like whatever it was they were about to throw at him.

"Ah, well you see, Harry, I think that this is a fantastic idea, but the only problem is that it will interfere with your training schedule." Dumbledore explained

"Training schedule? What training schedule?"

"A few times a week, Professor Snape was going to travel to the Burrow to give you lessons, but he very well cannot do the same at Privet Drive." The old man was silent for several long seconds. He appeared to be pondering possible solutions at the problem. "I will allow you to remain at Privet Drive until the first of August if you will agree to spend the last month of your summer training five times a week with Severus. That is, if he will kindly agree to stay at Grimmauld Place for four weeks time." He said in a way that implied that he was giving Snape more of an order than a choice.

"Five times a week!" This outburst came not from himself, but surprisingly from Snape "Albus, we will murder each other before the month is over."

The headmaster merely chuckled in response and while Harry wasn't happy at being forced to spend the end of his summer with a greasy git like Snape, he wasn't going to complain if this was what he had to do to get another month in Little Whingington. "Alright, it appears to be settled then! Severus, I trust that you will be there to collect him on the appropriate day."

"Yes." Snape replied, though Harry was sure that he wanted to hex the older man into oblivion.

Dumbledore showed them to the door, wishing him a good summer and telling Snape that he'd be in touch. Harry grabbed Snape's arm as they apparated for the second time, landing right back in his bedroom.

"Are you sure that you're not supposed to be a Slytherin, Potter? Tell many more successful lies like that and people may begin to wonder."

Harry actually had to pause for a moment to process what he had just said. He was pretty sure that was the nicest thing that Snape had ever said to him.

"I don't know what you're-"

"I'm assuming your reason for staying has less to do with your studies and more to do with the group of heathen looking teenagers in all of your photographs." Harry shrugged and he thought that Snape actually looked a bit put off that he hadn't said anything in response so he had no motive to further torment him. "Well, Potter, if you would kindly escort me out of this thing you call a house. I think I've been forced to be in your presence enough."

Harry rolled his eyes into the back of his head, leading the way down the stairs, eager for the Potions Master to leave as soon as possible so he could go back to bed. As they reached the bottom, Aunt Petunia came flying out of the kitchen to see what was going on.

"What are _you _still doing here?" She asked nastily. He opened his mouth to explain, but closed it again upon realizing her gaze wasn't directed on him, but instead upon Snape.

For a long moment, there was a silence about the room. Never before had he heard his aunt speak directly to a fellow witch or wizard. She preferred to shrivel back in fear and try to pretend that they weren't there.

"The boy is staying, Petunia." Snape snarled, spatting her name as if it were a dirty word. Harry wanted to think that Snape simply knew her name from checking with Dumbledore before entering the house, but he could tell by the way they both looked at each other in unspoken dislike that there was more to it then that.

"I don't want him to say, Snape. He's rude, disrespectful, and thinks he has the right to do whatever he pleases. He's also turned into a drunk, but you know all about that with your father being what he was and all. But then again, he was the normal one of the family, wasn't he?" She hissed at him

He wasn't surprised to see that Snape was on the verge of exploding. The one thing he knew, and secretly respected, about the man was that he didn't tolerate shit from anybody. His lips had turned thinner than he had ever seen them and he appeared to be shaking a little. While he didn't understand how his Muggle aunt would know things about Snape's personal life, he could tell that whatever she was taunting him about had affected the man rather deeply. The usual passive expression that Snape wore at all times had fallen for just a few seconds to reveal a look of pain before falling back into place once more. While he may not like Snape very much, he decided in that moment that he disliked his aunt even more and without even thinking about it, proceeded to tell her "I suggest you shut the hell up right now."

He glanced away for a split second and was met by a hard slap across his face that was actually more like a punch. He stumbled backward, expecting to fall, but surprisingly, Snape caught him. It took a second for him to get over the initial shock of what had just happened before he realized that Snape still had a hold of him. That he had just seen his aunt's abuse first hand. And most importantly, that Harry had been defending him of all people.

Harry shoved past the both of them and made a beeline for the front door. Once outside, he began walking down the sidewalk, cursing underneath his breath and lighting a cigarette. He had no idea where he was going and he didn't care. Anywhere was better than that hell hole. His feet unconsciously carried him to the small park four blocks away from Privet Drive. He lay down on the merry-go-round and looked up at the clouds above, taking deep breaths to try to calm himself down.

It was there that he stayed until the late afternoon sun began sinking down into the sky, unaware of a pair of onyx eyes watching him from the distance.


	3. Chapter 3

Knowing that he only had one more month of freedom left, he made sure to make the most of it. This was the summer that he would never forget, the summer he didn't want to end. He would stay gone for days at a time, usually at Andy's. Even the days when most of his friends were working he could usually find something to do. The first time he had returned to Privet Drive after having been gone for three days straight, he had expected a beating with his uncle, but alternatively, absolutely nothing had happened. His uncle had been working later and for longer periods for months now, always the first one out of the house in the morning and the last to arrive at night; He probably hadn't even noticed his absence at all. He suspected that his aunt rather liked him being away from the house so frequently, as she could basically pretend that he didn't exist that way.

During the increasingly rare times he did spend at the house, he would occasionally have civil conversations with Dudley as they had come to a sort of truce a couple weeks ago. It was mid-afternoon, and he was just hanging around for a few hours waiting on Faith to pick him up so they could go to the cinema. He'd concealed himself behind the shed for a few minutes to try to get a smoke session in before he went. Halfway through, Dudley rounded the corner before he had time to conceal what he was doing. He'd kept his hand curled around his wand, ready to threaten him should he need to, but he already suspected that his cousin smoked anyway. Nobody went to their friends house for tea five times a week at age sixteen. This accidental encounter had somehow broken the ice barrier between them and while he wouldn't consider Dudley to be his best mate, he really wasn't that bad. The one thing that was never discussed was the magical world or what went on inside of the home, so he couldn't help but be surprised one day when Dudley asked him why he was still here.

It was late in the day, and the two of them were sitting in the garden. Dudley was leafing through a magazine with swimsuit models on the cover and Harry was playing with a portable computer that Chad had allowed him to borrow.

"What do you mean?" He looked up, surprised.

His cousin kept his eyes on his magazine "Well, those freak-I mean the magical people have usually been around to get you by now, haven't they?" He asked, looking uncomfortable.

Harry raised an eyebrow at his cousin's question. He'd caught onto the fact that Dudley had almost called them freaks, but he had also noticed that he had stopped himself from doing so. That was a strange improvement. "I told them I wanted to stay here." He shrugged

Aunt Petunia came out of the sliding door just then, eying them suspiciously, but not saying a word as she walked around to put food out for the stray cats in the neighborhood. She'd caught them socializing together several times in the past weeks, but had never issued a word on the subject. He supposed she didn't quite know what to make of it.

"Why the hell would you want to do that?" Dudley said as soon as she was gone, giving him a look like he had gone mad. "I mean, I know you're always gone with those people who drive the red car, but why would you want to stay here?" He asked, gesturing around to their surroundings "I'd want to leave and never come back if I were you. I'm not blind, you know. I don't know how you've put up with it for this long, but I know that I couldn't do it. Besides, you're really not that bad, you know?"

It was in that moment that Harry realized that there was possibly still hope left for his cousin after all. Maybe by some chance he wasn't going to turn out like the bigots whom had raised him. He didn't really know what to say after that, so he just nodded his head up in down. Dudley returned to his magazine and he found himself getting lost in his own thoughts.

Harry had only received one letter since extending his stay at Privet Drive. It was from Ron, and it hadn't been a very nice letter. His friend had proclaimed that there was no way in hell he was actually voluntarily staying in that place, not to pull the whole 'focusing on my studies' bullshit, and had even accused him of having met a girl. He hadn't written back. Harry had already figured it out for himself that everybody was angry with him over his decision to stay, but he didn't really care. He wasn't living for other people and he wasn't about to start now.

Still, the month seemed to fly right on by. Before he knew it, it was the thirtieth of July, the day before his sixteenth birthday. He was preparing to leave in two days and therefore had just finished packing up the belongings he was to take with him, aside from a small backpack that he was about to take with him to Andy's. They were supposed to be partying at the house tonight and then going out for one last shabang on his actual birthday night. While he was reluctant to leave his friends, he was rather excited to see Sirius whom had written him last week to let him know that he was anticipating his stay and had a surprise for him upon arrival.

Before he headed out for the night, he walked about the house in search of his aunt, finally locating her in the kitchen. "Uh, just to let you know somebody is coming to pick me up in two days. I'll be staying with my godfather until I go back to school."

She didn't acknowledge him for a long moment as she stirred a pot of chili on the stove. He turned to go, but stopped again at the sound of her voice "This-this godfather of yours. Where does he live?"

"London."

"Right," She said "And he has...a house there?"

"Yes."

"And this house...this house is safe?"

"Why do you care? You hate me anyway, so really, it shouldn't matter if I'm safe or not."

Before he had any time to react, he found himself pinned up against the counter "Is that what you think?" She hissed. "That's why I took you in, gave you clothes to wear, and fed you? That's why I tried to keep you away from that nonsense for ten years? So you didn't end up like your parents? So you didn't end up like Lily?" Harry realized that this was the first time he had heard her speak of her sister by her given name. "I know that he's back. I know what he's capable of. Believe whatever it is that you want to believe, but family is family, boy. Maybe one day you'll be fortunate enough to learn that." His aunt turned and stormed from the room without another word. Harry found himself rooted to the spot, hardly believing that his aunt's outburst had been real. He wondered how long she had been holding all of that in for. He usually called Andy to come pick him up, but he decided to walk as he tried to process what had just happened. She cared about him, but she had still allowed him to grow up in such a terrible environment. She had witnessed the abuse first hand, but had still done nothing to stop it and had even been a part of it sometimes. She cared about him, but instead of showing it like a normal person, she had instead made his life a living hell. It was the most twisted game in the book.

He wasn't in very much of a party mood when he arrived, and he was glad to see Andy sitting by himself on the couch when he walked in. "Hey," He said lamely, flopping down next to him.

"What's wrong?" His friend asked upon seeing the look on his face

"It's just been a bad day," He said "I'm really not looking forward to leaving."

Andy was the only one of his Muggle friends who knew of his true identity. One night when he was rolling hard, he'd found himself in an emotionally critical state and after having a long talk with his friend, he'd decided to tell him the truth. The boy hadn't believed him at first, ordering him to do magic right then and there. He'd explained how underage wizard's aren't allowed to do magic outside of school and how they were sworn to absolute secrecy. Andy had laughed at him, telling him that he knew he was completely bullshitting him. He'd only stopped laughing when Harry had pulled his invisibility cloak out and wrapped it around his body so only his head was visible. The two of them now shared an unspoken secret, and he felt like he could talk to him about anything.

"I don't want you to leave either, but I'm sure your friends and family there are ready to see you too."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Said Harry "It's just...I feel like this summer has been so surreal and I'm afraid that when I go back everything's going to be just the same as when I left, like it never even happened or something."

They ended up spending the next hour having one of their talks, and he was in a much better mood by the time the four of them started setting up. By setting up, that meant that they filled the bathtub up with ice and put their alcohol in it, plugged in a few speakers, and moved the furniture up against the walls. People starting arriving around eight o'clock and many of them brought birthday gifts. He received several items of clothing, a flask, Buddhist prayer beads, some body jewelry, a Bob Marley poster, and a glass bong. Faith, who was studying to become a photographer, gave him an album full of photos that had been taken over the summer and Chad ended up telling him to keep the computer. The only one left was Andy, who said he'd give him his presents later, in private.

It was half an hour until midnight, and the party was in full swing. He'd smoked countless blunts and had drank two cups of orange juice and vodka, so he was feeling pretty good as Megan, Hanna, and another girl that partied with them named Kassie all locked themselves in the bathroom. Megan, who was the soberest of the three, volunteered herself to do it. She sterilized a needle with hand sanitizer and used permanent marker to mark a dot on the inside of his lip. "Okay, ready?" She asked. He nodded, closing his eyes and trying not to jump as she quickly shoved the needle through. The worst part was over and after that all she had to do was pull the needle out while sliding the hoop into place. After the ends were twisted on and the blood wiped from his face, he went to look in the mirror. His blurry reflection stared back at him and he leaned forward to get a good look at his lip.

Happy with his new piercing, he rejoined the party ten minutes to midnight. More people seemed to have shown up in the past fifteen minutes. Some he knew, others he didn't recognize. There had to be at least thirty people in the house by now. He ran into Matt on his way to show Andy what he'd just done. The drunk boy flung an arm around his shoulder "You know what, Harry?" He slurred "Your birthday's in ten minutes and I DON'T THINK YOU'RE NEARLY FUCKED UP ENOUGH!" He screamed this last part, causing a few people to cheer in response.

He grabbed somebody's drink out of their hand and tipped it back. Andy found him just then and he pointed to his lip in excitement. "Look! I finally did it!"

Before his friend had a chance to reply, people started counting down. "10, 9," He realized that they were counting down to his birthday. "8, 7, 6," Somebody shoved a chair in front of him and he stood on it "5, 4, 3" a shot glass was shoved in his hand and a paper crown from a burger joint was placed on his head "2, 1, HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" People started blowing noisemakers and cheering in their drunkenness. He downed a shot, pumped his fist into the air, and was immediately handed two more. This was by far the craziest party that they had ever thrown and this would definitely go down as the best birthday celebration he could have ever asked for.

The place started to clear out around three in the morning, when only about a dozen of them were left. A couple people passed out, and Harry must have blacked out because the next thing he knew, it was daylight and he was laying on Andy's king size mattress in only his boxers.

He slowly raised his head, but quickly lowered it back down as the room began spinning. This was the worst hangover he'd had in a wile, and it was like every part of his body had suffered the night before. His legs ached from dehydration, his newly pierced lip throbbed with what was probably the start of an infection, and he felt like he was going to throw up at any given moment. He picked up a pair of black and silver drawstring shorts that belonged to god knows who off of the floor and padded down the hallway. People were passed out everywhere and it took him forever to wave through the sea of people. He finally made it through to the kitchen and filled a glass with tap water, draining it in one gulp and refilling it.

"Nice to see that you've finally decided to join the living."

Harry jumped about a foot in the air, wheeling around in an instant. None other than Severus Snape was standing in the doorway. Thinking that he was possibly seeing things, he shut his eyes and reopened them. He was still there.

"What the hell-how? What are you doing here?" He demanded

Snape smirked at him, perhaps amused to find him so dumbstruck "I was instructed to collect you from your residence once day in advance. Your dog father wished to see you on your birthday. Your cousin kindly gave me directions to this-" He paused here, looking around "Wonderful place." He finished with a sneer.

Harry glared up at the evil git who called himself a professor. "I have plans tonight." He said

"Tell it to somebody who cares, Potter. My task is to safely deliver you to headquarters. I suggest you get dressed and collect your things."

He purposely took his time getting ready, showering before dressing himself in his Docs, black jeans, and a denim jacket with a simple t-shirt underneath it. By the time he finally padded back out into the kitchen, Snape was sitting at the table with his arms crossed over his chest, looking extremely irritated.

"Are you finally ready or were you waiting on Christmas?"

He ignored him as he took in one last look of his surroundings. He knew it wasn't goodbye forever, but it still hurt. Snape shrunk his bags and put them in his pocket, letting him know that he'd already sent his belongings from Privet Drive to Grimmauld Place by floo. Harry followed him out of the kitchen soundlessly. They were just down the first half of the driveway when the front door swung open and Andy ran out, shirtless and breathless.

Harry backtracked his way over to the boy. He hadn't woken him up to tell him that he was leaving, instead leaving a note on the boy's bedside table. He held the note up in his left hand now. "I thought you weren't supposed to be leaving until tomorrow?"

"I wasn't, but my godfather wants to see me today. This will be the first birthday of mine that him and I have been able to spend together and he would be really upset if I refused to come now. I'm sorry." He apologized "I wish I didn't have to leave."

Andy pulled him into a hug then and he found himself swallowing hard. "I promise I'll come visit as soon as I can," He said "I've had the best time of my life with you guys this summer and it sucks that it has to end."

They lingered for a few more moments until Snape coughed loudly in the background "I guess I'd better go." He said

"I'll video chat with you soon." Andy promised, giving him another quick hug

Snape grabbed his arm and they apparated. His feet had hardly touched the ground when his stomach began churning. He opened his eyes to find the two of them in a deserted alleyway. Harry turned his back to Snape and staggered forward a few paces. His stomach contents all came up at once and he spent the next five minutes doubled over, waiting for the sickness to pass.

He eventually felt well enough to move and he walked back over to Snape, daring him to say a word. A small vial was thrust in front of his face. He took it, staring at the dark green substance in suspicion. "Drink that, Potter. It'll help,"

"What is it?" He asked, still not drinking.

"Hangover potion. I suspect that you'll need it once we arrive."

They had began walking now, making their way through the semi crowded streets of London. He screwed the lid off of the top, swallowing the entire thing in one gulp. "What do you mean I'll need it once we arrive?" He asked

"You didn't hear this from me, but they have planned a surprise party of some sort upon your arrival."

When they entered the sitting room, Harry tried to put a surprised expression on his face as the lights flicked on and they all jumped out at him. He spent the next hour surrounded by people. Everybody had come to celebrate his birthday; all of the Weasley's, various members of The Order, and even McGonagall and Dumbledore. Everybody was dying to know how he was and how his summer had been. He didn't find himself talking much, mainly listening to others speak. Harry caught many people eying his new appearance, but nobody actually said anything aloud.

Sirius finally caught him just as Molly was calling everybody in for dinner, pulling him into a bone crushing hug which Harry had to pull away from when it became hard to breathe. "Sorry kid, I'm just happy to see ya." Sirius apologized

"I'm happy to see you too."

Harry noticed Sirius checking out his new piercing and Harry smiled back at him sheepishly, hoping that his godfather wouldn't choose now to turn into some strict parental figure.

"A lip ring, eh?"

And that was the end of it. Harry grinned at Sirius and the two of them began chatting away as their feet carried them into the kitchen. During dinner, he ended up sitting with Sirius to his right and Fred and Charlie across from him. He spotted Ron and Hermione at the opposite end of the table, engaged in conversation with Kingsley. Harry had briefly greeted the two of them when he'd arrived, but things had been a bit awkward after having barely spoken at all over the summer and they'd soon excused themselves, mysteriously disappearing until now.

"Don't worry about our dearest brother," Said Fred, glancing over in the direction that Harry was looking "He's obviously got his knickers in a twist over something or other. Come to think of it, he's a right git most of the time nowadays."

A short wile later, after Harry had opened his presents and they'd all had cake, people finally began leaving the party. He stood at the door, thanking everybody for coming. "Molly and I are going to stay at the house tonight, if that's alright with you." He overheard Mr. Weasley talking to Sirius "We'd like some alone time. It's hard to find it that often with seven children and all."

"I think I can handle the lot of them." Sirius reassured the pair of them while winking at Harry out of the corner of his eye

After the last of their guests had finally left, Sirius and Remus grabbed him from either side and said that they had something they wanted to show him. They climbed the stairs all the way to the third floor, where Sirius stopped at the very last door on the left, cupping his hands over Harry's eyes and telling Remus to get the door. When he was finally allowed to look, Harry spent the next few moments standing in silence.

A king sized canopy bed sat against the middle of the wall on the left side of the room. Curtains of gold and blue were drawn back and the bedspread was a deep blue satin with matching pillows. An oak mahogany wardrobe was pushed up against the other wall, with a matching writing desk next to it with new quills, parchment, and ink on top. He also had a bookshelf, two bean bag chairs, and two nightstands to match the rest of his furniture.

He grabbed both of the men and hugged them at the same time, at a loss for words. He didn't think anybody would ever do something this nice for him and it meant a lot to finally have a room that he could call his own.

"So you like it?" Remus asked

"I love it," Harry said "Thank you so much."

They left him alone after that. He decided to wait to unpack his things, wishing to rejoin the others downstairs. Before he went, he changed into a pair of white cargo shorts and a tank top, rolling a joint to smoke later on and slipping it in his pocket for safe keeping before thundering back down the stairs.

Nobody was in the sitting room when he looked, nor the library. He eventually made his way down to the kitchen to grab his presents, surprised to see both of the twins, plus Charlie and Mundungus all sitting together at the long picnic table, passing around a dark red bottle with strange symbols on it.

"Hey guys," He said, sitting down next to Charlie "What's that?" He asked, pointing at the bottle.

"Only the finest liquor from Romania." Charlie said, Harry gave him a look that said 'yeah right'

Charlie plucked the bottle from George's hands and slid it over to him. "Go on, try it." He sniffed it curiously before tipping his head back and taking a swig. It tasted like raspberries. "It's good, right?" He nodded, taking a few more gulps before passing it back over.

"So what are you guys doing down here?"

"Well, since Mum and Dad are gone for the night we thought we'd throw a little celebration of our own." Fred said

We're just waiting on Bill and Tonks to get back from the liquor store." Charlie added

Harry nodded, wondering if he was going to be allowed to partake in their little event. After all, it was his birthday.

"So now that it's just us, how about you tell us about what you were really doing all summer?" George said, looking at him in a knowing way

He held the room's attention for the next few minutes, telling them that he'd became friends with a group of Muggle's over the summer. They passed around Charlie's bottle for a half hour or so, all telling stories and growing gradually tipsy. Soon after, Remus and Sirius joined them. Harry felt uncomfortable drinking in front of the two of them, but nobody said anything. The awkwardness went away after Tonks, Bill,and one of their friends from the Ministry all showed up with a few cases of beer. After another hour, everybody was intoxicated and having a good time standing around talking to one another. The noise from downstairs eventually attracted Ron and Hermione's attention. Harry noticed them standing in the doorway, looking kind of startled and out of place. He felt bad for not going over to talk to them, but he was having a rather enjoyable time and didn't feel like having to answer any questions about his summer or talk about last year right now. This was his time to escape from all of that.

It wasn't until Mundungus passed out on the table, Bill and Tonks' weird friend mysteriously disappeared together, and everybody, save Ron and Hermione, had drunkenly attempted to sing along to the Weird Sisters and other popular songs on the radio that things began to quiet down. As the party began to disperse, Harry drunkenly climbed up the stairs, felt his way through the dark hallway, and finally made it out the front door. He had been craving a cigarette all night.

He'd barely taken two drags of his cigarette when a voice made him jump about a mile. "Potter, of course."

His drunkenness combined with the darkness outside had caused him to not even register the dark figure sitting two steps below him. "Why are you outside?"

"I think the better question is why are you outside? Shouldn't you be down in the basement obnoxiously singing along with the lot of them? I've only been kept up by the ruckus all night long."

"We're celebrating my birthday." Harry said, barely registering that he was slurring his words "But everybody went to bed. Now I'm up alone." He was drunk, and he was rambling. To Snape none the less. None of this really mattered to him at this point. All he knew was that they were the only two left awake and he was apparently in a talking mood. "And hey, don't judge our singing. I thought we all sounded good together. You should have joined us." He said all of these things very fast.

He didn't notice the way that Snape stared at him in bewilderment, probably unsure of what to say "I prefer not to spend my night in company of a bunch of clumsy, drunken, dunderheads."

Harry didn't find himself at all offended by the man's insults or attitude and continued on like normal "Tell me," He said, taking another sip from Charlie's bottle that he'd ended up giving to him "What do you do in your spare time? Since you don't like hanging out with us dunderheads."

"I don't know." Snape said shortly, a sign that he was beginning to grow irritated

"You don't know, or you just don't wanna tell me?" Said Harry

Snape glared at him, but Harry was too busy looking elsewhere to notice.

"Can I ask you something?"

"I suppose."

"I know I probably shouldn't be asking you about this but I know what you do when you're not here, what you're doing to help the Order and I just want- I need to know...do you know what happened to Dean?"

Snape didn't speak for a long moment, and didn't seem to want to look at him either. After what Harry felt like was an hour but was more like a minute, he cleared his throat "Such matters need not be discussed at the present time,"

"I need to know!" Harry said forcefully "If you know something, just go ahead and say it. I can take it. I'm not a child!"

Next thing he knew Snape had seized his arm "Come on, Potter. You're drunk and need to go to bed."

Harry mouthed the entire way to his room, wanting answers, wanting to know what had happened to his friend. Snape refused to say another word, and the next thing he knew, he was laying in bed, falling into a deep sleep, finally dead to the world. For a few hours, at least.


End file.
